Sleeping With Sirens - 06.24.13

This is a short interview I had done with Sleeping With Sirens guitarist Jesse Lawson in Seattle at this summer's Vans Warped Tour. Later on that night, the band pulled an overwhelmingly large crowd - in fact, it was the largest crowd of the day.

First off, what influenced your decision to return to the Warped Tour mainstage, instead of headlining your own tour?

Jesse Lawson: We got the offer, and we had a lot of fun last year, so we thought it would be great to come back and do it all over again.

Your new album Feel sold 59,000 copies in the first week alone. What were your thoughts when you first got the numbers back?

Jesse Lawson: We were blown away, we were definitely very blessed to have so many people support us, and it was awesome.

The track "Alone" features rapper Machine Gun Kelly who was on last year's Warped Tour as well. Who else are you looking to build a relationship with on this year's tour?

Jesse Lawson: I really like the new Bring Me The Horizon record, I think it's real good. We met them at Soundwave, and that was cool, but we didn't have a lot of time. Last night we were hanging out with the letlive. guys, and that was really awesome, they're great dudes.

Would you consider doing a short EP with Machine Gun Kelly? I remember Yelawolf doing an EP with Ed Sheeran and it turning out well.

Jesse Lawson: I mean, it would definitely be cool, but I don't know if it'll ever happen though because we have a lot of stuff we want to still do, like another acoustic record and all that. But it would be cool, he's a good dude.

If Machine Gun Kelly wasn't around for "Alone", was there someone else that you had in mind? Or would you have scrapped the track altogether or just re-wrote it?

Jesse Lawson: We really didn't have anyone else in mind, but we wouldn't scrap it, we probably would've put some other part in there. But yeah, it would be tight if we got someone like Lil Wayne on there.

It's funny, because G-Eazy also was on last year's tour, and now he's opening for Lil Wayne's "America's Most Wanted" summer tour. So who knows, anything's possible.

I think "Satellites" is one of the tracks that gets overlooked when people talk about the record, but I think it's one of the songs that would immediately explode on rock radio. Can you give me a background on that song both musically and lyrically?

Jesse Lawson: We had 10 days to write the record, so we just pumped out a bunch of songs and that one happened to work out, so we put it on the record.

What are your plans in the fall? Another headliner in the U.S.?

Jesse Lawson: We're doing a run in the U.K., and then we have a headliner in the States, and then we're taking some time off for Christmas.

Any hints you can give as to who's joining you on the U.S. headliner?

One of those bands starts with an "M", and one of the bands starts with an "I".

What does it mean to you that your band is an example and an influence to so many people?

Jesse Lawson: It's a weird thing, it's crazy, because when I was growing up there was a lot of bands that were my favorite band, and now we're some kids favorite band, and I guess we're just lucky to be in that position.

I think "Satellites" is one of the tracks that gets overlooked when people talk about the record, but I think it's one of the songs that would immediately explode on rock radio. Can you give me a background on that song both musically and lyrically?

Jesse Lawson: We had 10 days to write the record, so we just pumped out a bunch of songs and that one happened to work out, so we put it on the record.

I think "Satellites" is one of the tracks that gets overlooked when people talk about the record, but I think it's one of the songs that would immediately explode on rock radio. Can you give me a background on that song both musically and lyrically?

Jesse Lawson: We had 10 days to write the record, so we just pumped out a bunch of songs and that one happened to work out, so we put it on the record.

I think "Satellites" is one of the tracks that gets overlooked when people talk about the record, but I think it's one of the songs that would immediately explode on rock radio. Can you give me a background on that song both musically and lyrically?

Jesse Lawson: We had 10 days to write the record, so we just pumped out a bunch of songs and that one happened to work out, so we put it on the record.

I think "Satellites" is one of the tracks that gets overlooked when people talk about the record, but I think it's one of the songs that would immediately explode on rock radio. Can you give me a background on that song both musically and lyrically?

Jesse Lawson: We had 10 days to write the record, so we just pumped out a bunch of songs and that one happened to work out, so we put it on the record.

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Way to go into detail there young buck.

Bummer to see they only had 10 days to write an entire album. I'm personally not a fan of this record at all. I'm curious if they had more time to write if it would be better.